Manyu Division:

Agbor Tabi’s ‘Orphans’ Still Inconsolable Two Tears On 

Tributes have continued flowing in since last week as Manyu elements recount vivid memories of their one-time political legend, war-lord and go-getter, Ntuifam Prof. Peter Agbor Tabi, who quit the stage prematurely on 27 April 2016, aged only 65.

Prof. Peter Agbor Tabi’s death has left many orphaned and confused

Aficionados of drama often advise actors to quit the stage when the applause is loudest. And that was exactly what the Manyu political go-getter, Prof. Peter Agbor Tabi, did, when he passed on to glory in Paris, France, on 27 April 2016, after a prolonged but undisclosed illness.

            Memories of the man whom political bookmakers still reckon as one, if not, the greatest achiever that Manyu Division, in its checquered political history, has ever produced, still continue to animate a vast amount of political discourse and debate, two years after Prof. Agbor Tabi bowed out of the Cameroonian political stage.

            Throughout last week, tributes kept flowing on the walls of social media platforms, and especially on the Manyu CPDM forum created and administered by Agbor Tabi’s successor as leader of political business in Manyu, H. E. Victor Mengot Arrey Nkongho. The tributes are still coming in to this day.

            “Prof. Agbor Tabi, you have gone to the great beyond for a well-deserved rest. But your memories still linger and shall linger on for a very long time to come,” wrote Samuel Epey, on the Manyu CPDM Forum.

            “Prof. Agbor Tabi, you have just begun the third year; you are still young. But you will remain fresh in our minds as you get older. Happy birthday and Adieu as I shed tears…,” wrote Prof. Tambi Peter.

            As for the former Deputy Vice Chancellor of Bamenda University and current Commissioner of the African Union, Prof Sarah Anyang Agbor, her tribute was more revealing and heart-rending. Titled, “In evergreen memory of H. E. Prof. Sesekou Ntuifam Peter Agbortabi”, Sarah Anyang wrote: “Another year rolls on today Your Excellency Prof. Ntuifam Sesekou Peter Agbortabi, but your legacy lives on. Today, two years ago, you departed this world. You sojourned in the world beyond and went home to glory. Tears are still rolling down and the vacuum you left cannot be filled. You were a visionary with the zeal to impact and change your community and nation…You were persistent in your course, outspoken and forthright in your quiet and soft tone. You were a mentor and father to so many. Your Excellency, many have been left orphaned. Yet we remember your consoling words, advice and counsel. Today I celebrate you and thank God for the gift of you. Rest in Perfect Peace Daddy, Rest in the bosom of He who has called you home.”

            Yet other tributes are those of former Rector of Maroua University, Prof. Edward Ako Teddy, who noted simply: “Time passes, the pain remains”, and Prof. Agbor Ntui who says “We will remember him everlastingly.”

            For senior journalists, Chris Enoh Oben and Emmanuel Tataw, Prof. Agbor Tabi remains “one of Manyu’s greatest achievers of all times”.

            “He drew his lines between his friends and his enemies. His friends he loved with devotion, his enemies he hated with a passion. Yet he remains one of Manyu’s greatest achievers of all times. I salute your memory ‘Peter the Rock’,” writes Enoh Chris Oben.

            “Prof. Agbor Tabi you are forever in our hearts: The truth is that with your departure, part of our sense of the world has gone too. You were a rare specimen, an extra-ordinary personality whose natural thinking and conception of life provided rare answers to the challenges of your time. You bequeathed to us an elevated value system that places the Commonwealth, the collective interest and country above all else…..Rest in Peace,” writes Emmanuel Tataw.

            The tributes are unending. But we will not put them all here for want of space.

            Yet the million dollar questions that easily come to mind are: What was it that made Prof. Agbor Tabi tick? What was so particular about him that memories of him have remained so indelible in the minds of many several years after his passing? What did Agbor Tabi do for Manyu and for the Manyu people that they continue paying reverence to him even after his permanent departure? Can Manyu ever fill the gap created by Agbor Tabi’s untimely passing?

            Maybe answers to these questions can be found in the following interview with CRTV’s political desk editor, Ashu Nyenty. Just read on.